George Lott was executed by the State of Texas for the murders of two lawyers
According to court documents George Lott would enter a courtroom and open fire killing Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Chris Marshall and lawyer John Edwards. The Judge would be shot but would survive his injuries. Apparently Lott, who was also a lawyer, was bitter over a child custody case and divorce that did not go his way
George Lott would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
George Lott would be executed by lethal injection on September 20 1994
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When was George Lott executed
George Lott was executed on September 20 1994
How was George Lott executed
George Lott was executed by lethal injection
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FORT WORTH — A neatly dressed gunman abruptly opened fire in a Tarrant County courthouse early Wednesday, killing two lawyers, seriously wounding two appellate judges and grazing another attorney.
Almost seven hours later, a man who said he was distraught over a child custody case and sexual abuse charges against him walked into WFAA-TV (Channel 8) offices in Dallas, explained his motives on camera and surrendered to police.
“It’s a horrible, horrible thing that I have done today. . . . You have to do a horrible, horrible thing to catch people’s attention,’ George Lott told personnel at WFAA. He said he had convicted himself and that “they should execute me.’
Mr. Lott said he used a Glock 17 9mm pistol, which he had calmly reloaded, to carry out the shootings. With the gun tucked in a briefcase, he fled down the four-story building’s stairs before escaping.
Killed in the rampage were Chris Marshall, 41, chief of the appellate section for the Tarrant County district attorney’s office, and Dallas lawyer John Edwards, 33, who was reportedly scheduled to argue a case before the court Wednesday morning.
The gunfire injured 2nd Court of Appeals Judge John Hill, 48, and visiting Judge Clyde Ashworth, 69. Judge Ashworth underwent hip surgery at Harris Methodist-Fort Worth hospital and was listed in serious condition late Wednesday. Judge Hill, who is not related to the former state supreme court justice and attorney general, was shot in the shoulder. He was listed in good condition at Harris.
Assistant District Attorney Steven Conder, 28, was grazed in the shoulder by one of the bullets. He was treated at John Peter Smith Hospital and released.
Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department officials and Fort Worth police had questioned several possible suspects Wednesday afternoon, before Mr. Lott, 45, surrendered at WFAA shortly after 4:15 p.m., saying he was the gunman.
Fort Worth Police Lt. Ralph Swearingin said a witness had identified Mr. Lott as the gunman.
Lt. Swearingin said late Wednesday that Mr. Lott had been questioned and been booked into a Tarrant County jail on investigative charges of capital murder, deadly assault on a court participant and carrying a weapon in a prohibited place. No bail had been set, Lt.
Swearingin said.
Mr. Lott told Channel 8 that he had been planning the shootings about a month. “Somebody needs to look into what’s happening to Neal,” Mr. Lott said, referring to his son, the subject of the custody dispute.
Mr. Lott was indicted in April on aggravated sexual assault charges stemming from allegations that he had sexually abused his son at a motel in Peoria, Ill., according to police and court records. He was scheduled to be tried July 24 on the more serious of the charges, said prosecutor Jim Owens in Peoria, where the son lived.
Mr. Lott had called the felony court clerk in Peoria several times Tuesday and once early Wednesday, unsuccessfully trying to get a hearing regarding his complaints that prosecutors were withholding evidence, according to Kevin Lyon, Peoria County state’s attorney.
Mr. Lott had sent a threatening letter accusing prosecutors in Peoria of withholding and fabricating evidence against him, Mr. Owens said.
“It was the first confirmation of everything I had heard and come to fear about George Lott,” Mr. Owens said, referring to the letter.
He said Mr. Lott is a former attorney who had surrendered his bar license in Texas and had expressed strong hatred for the judicial system.
“He feels terribly wronged by the justice system,” Mr. Owens said. “What happened today didn’t surprise any of us. In fact, I think it could have just as easily happened here.”
Fort Worth police and FBI agents searched Mr. Lott’s south Arlington apartment late Wednesday. Shortly after the search began, officials said they had found no weapons but that the apartment was full of law books and court documents.
According to witnesses’ statements in Fort Worth, the gunman went unnoticed among a handful of spectators in the gallery of the usually sedate appellate courtroom on the fourth floor of the old Tarrant County Courthouse building.
As the justices were hearing a case, which authorities believe was unrelated to the shootings, a man suddenly stood and began firing.
“He was very organized,” said Fort Worth Police Chief Thomas Windham. “He simply drew his weapon and began to fire as he approached the bench.”
The gunfire struck Mr. Marshall several times in the chest, witnesses said. Judge David Farris dived behind the bench and was uninjured, but his two colleagues on the three-justice panel were shot.
Defense lawyer Dan Hollifield, who was standing at a lectern arguing a motion when the shots broke out, said he escaped by dropping to the floor and crawling into an adjacent office.
“It was just astounding to look around and see a man standing with his arm out, holding a gun,’ Mr. Hollifield said.
Chief Windham said the judges appeared to be the primary targets of the attack.
“I think he was shooting at the court. He was shooting at the judges,” Chief Windham said. “He was spraying bullets all over the place.”
When the gunman had emptied his weapon, he calmly reloaded the weapon before walking from the courtroom.
“He did fire a full magazine and then reload,” Chief Windham said.
Chief Windham said the killer pursued Mr. Edwards and shot him repeatedly in the chest in a stairwell between the second and third floors. He said investigators did not know whether the gunman was deliberately targeting the attorney or whether their paths crossed as Mr. Edwards was fleeing from the shots.
Chief Justice H. Tod Weaver of the 2nd Court of Appeals said his office will be closed Thursday while investigators continue to accumulate evidence from the shooting scene.
Judge Weaver, whose office is adjacent to the courtroom where two of his colleagues where shot, said he hid in a restroom. He said a briefing clerk also hid in a closet until they heard Judge Farris come into the office to call for help on the telephone.
And despite Wednesday’s shooting, the chief justice said he had few qualms about returning to his office.
“I don’t think personally I’m going to be edgy about it,” he said.
State District Judge Maryellen Hicks, who presided over Mr. Lott’s divorce jury trial about two years ago, said custody of the Mr. Lott’s son had been awarded to the mother, Margo Livesay. Ms. Livesay had filed charges of aggravated sexual assault on a minor against Mr. Lott.
“My sympathy just goes out to the families. The judges, they’re good friends of mine. I’m just devastated. That’s all I care to say,” Judge Hicks said.
Acting Sheriff Jim Minter said an armed bailiff in the courtroom fired no shots. He said the bailiff was being questioned about his actions Wednesday.
Toby Goodman, an Arlington lawyer and state representative, said he had left the appellate courtroom just minutes before the shooting started. He said he heard seven to 10 shots and a few moments later, saw a man in a blue blazer and carrying a bag running down the hallway and out the east courthouse door.
“I had just been in the courtroom,’ Mr. Goodman said. “It scares the hell out of you.’
Julie Level, an employee of the Tarrant County elections office, said she heard a voice echoing through the buildings begging for help, then heard several shots.
“I heard somebody yell, “Help, help,’ ‘ Ms. Level said. “And then, “Boom, boom, boom.’ ‘
In the moments after the shootings, sheriff’s deputies went from office to office, evacuating the four-floor courthouse. Some employees quickly left the area, and others nervously waited outside, seeking word about the injured and slain.
Many employees were found huddling in closed offices or under desks when the deputies cleared the building, one official said.
The bizarre shootings invited immediate comparison to a hostage siege in August 1989 inside the same building, a turn-of-the-century granite courthouse still used for county offices and civil cases. In that case, a distraught Tarrant County bail bondsman, Manny Cabano, took his girlfriend, county court-at-law clerk Juanita Hermosillo, hostage while he kept authorities at bay for several hours. The standoff ended in disaster when Mr. Cabano first shot the woman, and then himself to death.
Then-Tarrant County Sheriff Don Carpenter was widely criticized for refusing to yield his jurisdiction to Fort Worth police hostage negotiators during the standoff. Relatives of Ms. Hermosillo have since sued the county and Mr. Carpenter, claiming the former sheriff’s
negligence contributed to the deaths.
Chief Windham credited Sheriff Minter with quickly establishing a cooperative effort with Fort Worth police shortly after Wednesday’s shootings.
“I just have to tell you that the one element of the equation that’s changed has been Jim Minter” since the 1989 courthouse shootings, Chief Windham said during a news conference Wednesday.
Judge Farris said no bailiff was in the courtroom when the shooting broke out. Other officials said an armed bailiff was in the vicinity but did not return fire.
Another courthouse official, who did not want to be identified, said the bailiff told investigators that he was afraid of striking civilians if he returned fire.
Officials Wednesday declined to release the bailiff’s name.
Sheriff Minter was appointed to act in Mr. Carpenter’s stead after the latter stepped down earlier this year following his indictment on several charges of official misconduct.
Wednesday’s incident was the fourth instance of an armed gunman in Tarrant County courtrooms since 1986.